A system allows users to submit information describing system defects, for example, defects in software systems. The system stores information describing defects for multiple external systems. The system further allows users to specify de-duplication rules for determining duplicate defects submitted by users. A de-duplication rule is associated with an original system defect and specifies regular expressions that are evaluated against a target system defect. The evaluation of the regular expressions against the target system defect indicates whether the target system defect is a duplicate of the original system defect. If the target system defect is determined to be a duplicate of another existing system defect, the target system defect may be closed.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A computer implemented method for de-duplication of system defects, the method comprising: storing records describing system defects for a plurality of external systems, each system defect associated with an external system; configuring a user interface for display via a client device, the user interface displaying information stored in records describing system defects; receiving, one or more de-duplication rules, each de-duplication rule configured to receive a description of an input system defect and determine whether the input system defect is a duplicate of an original system defect associated with the de-duplication rule, the de-duplication rule specifying one or more regular expressions, wherein the input system defect is determined to be a duplicate responsive to satisfying the one or more regular expressions; executing a particular de-duplication rule configured to determine duplicate system defects for a particular system defect associated with a particular external system, the executing comprising whether a target system defect specified for the particular external system satisfies the one or more regular expressions specified by the de-duplication rule; determining based on the execution of the one or more regular expressions that the target system defect specified for the particular external system is a duplicate of the particular system defect; and storing in a record describing the target system defect, information indicating that the target system defect is a duplicate.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein a record describing a system defect comprises one or more components, wherein each regular expression of a de-duplication rule is associated with a component of the system defect of the de-duplication rule.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more system defects include unstructured text describing a difference between an implemented feature of the external system and an expected feature.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: closing the target system defect, the closing comprising indicating that the target system defect will not follow a workflow for fixing the target system defect.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: communicating with the user providing the target system defect, wherein the communication depends on whether the target system defect is a duplicate.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a score for a de-duplication rule, the score indicating a significance of the de-duplication rule, wherein the score is determined based on a number of system defects determined to be duplicates based on the de-duplication rule.
7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: communicating with the user providing the de-duplication rule, wherein the communication depends on the score of the de-duplication rule.
8. The method of claim 6, further comprising: ranking a plurality of de-duplication rules based on the scores of each of the plurality of de-duplication rules; and sending the ranked de-duplication rules for presentation via a user interface.
9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to perform steps comprising: storing records describing system defects for a plurality of external systems, each system defect associated with an external system; configuring a user interface for display via a client device, the user interface displaying information stored in records describing system defects; receiving, one or more de-duplication rules, each de-duplication rule configured to receive a description of an input system defect and determine whether the input system defect is a duplicate of an original system defect associated with the de-duplication rule, the de-duplication rule specifying one or more regular expressions, wherein the input system defect is determined to be a duplicate responsive to satisfying the one or more regular expressions; executing a particular de-duplication rule configured to determine duplicate system defects for a particular system defect associated with a particular external system, the executing comprising whether a target system defect specified for the particular external system satisfies the one or more regular expressions specified by the de-duplication rule; determining based on the execution of the one or more regular expressions that the target system defect specified for the particular external system is a duplicate of the particular system defect; and storing in a record describing the target system defect, information indicating that the target system defect is a duplicate.
10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein a record describing a system defect comprises one or more components, wherein each regular expression of a de-duplication rule is associated with a component of the system defect of the de-duplication rule.
11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein one or more system defects include unstructured text describing a difference between an implemented feature of the external system and an expected feature.
12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more computer processors to perform steps comprising: closing the target system defect, the closing comprising indicating that the target system defect will not follow a workflow for fixing the target system defect.
13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more computer processors to perform steps comprising: communicating with the user providing the target system defect, wherein the communication depends on whether the target system defect is a duplicate.
14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more computer processors to perform steps comprising: determining a score for a de-duplication rule, the score indicating a significance of the de-duplication rule, wherein the score is determined based on a number of system defects determined to be duplicates based on the de-duplication rule.
15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more computer processors to perform steps comprising: communicating with the user providing the de-duplication rule, wherein the communication depends on the score of the de-duplication rule.
16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more computer processors to perform steps comprising: ranking a plurality of de-duplication rules based on the scores of each of the plurality of de-duplication rules; and sending the ranked de-duplication rules for presentation via a user interface.
17. A computer system comprising: one or more computer processors; and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to perform steps comprising: storing records describing system defects for a plurality of external systems, each system defect associated with an external system; configuring a user interface for display via a client device, the user interface displaying information stored in records describing system defects; receiving, one or more de-duplication rules, each de-duplication rule configured to receive a description of an input system defect and determine whether the input system defect is a duplicate of an original system defect associated with the de-duplication rule, the de-duplication rule specifying one or more regular expressions, wherein the input system defect is determined to be a duplicate responsive to satisfying the one or more regular expressions; executing a particular de-duplication rule configured to determine duplicate system defects for a particular system defect associated with a particular external system, the executing comprising whether a target system defect specified for the particular external system satisfies the one or more regular expressions specified by the de-duplication rule; determining based on the execution of the one or more regular expressions that the target system defect specified for the particular external system is a duplicate of the particular system defect; and storing in a record describing the target system defect, information indicating that the target system defect is a duplicate.
18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more computer processors to perform steps comprising: closing the target system defect, the closing comprising indicating that the target system defect will not follow a workflow for fixing the target system defect.
19. The computer system of claim 17, further comprising: determining a score for a de-duplication rule, the score indicating a significance of the de-duplication rule, wherein the score is determined based on a number of system defects determined to be duplicates based on the de-duplication rule.
20. The computer system of claim 19, further comprising: ranking a plurality of de-duplication rules based on the scores of each of the plurality of de-duplication rules; and sending the ranked de-duplication rules for presentation via a user interface.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
March 6, 2023
April 1, 2025
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.